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During a May 9, 2024 conversation with Don Lemon, Whoopi Goldberg said she preferred brief encounters and did not want dates to stay overnight. She described that as a personal choice shaped by the family relationships already in her life—not a rule for how anyone else should date.
What Goldberg said in the 2024 interview
Goldberg made the remarks on The Don Lemon Show. Yahoo’s May 12 report and Complex’s May 13 account covered the conversation, which also took place as she promoted her memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me. Complex quoted her describing brief encounters as “Hit-and-runs” and adding, “you can’t spend the night.” Complex’s May 13, 2024 report reproduces the longer explanation; Yahoo’s May 12, 2024 report also reports the overnight boundary.
Why she said she preferred it that way
In the passage quoted by Complex, Goldberg called herself “fundamentally a selfish person” in this respect. She pointed to her close family—her child, son-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchild—and said she had little time for many more people coming into her life. Her explanation was about how she wanted to spend her own time, not a claim that brief encounters suit everyone.
Goldberg also spoke about the judgments people may attach to choosing not to marry. Complex quoted her saying that people carry “a whole line of words” about what it means to want a brief encounter rather than marriage. The comment places her preference in the context of social expectations, rather than presenting it as dating advice.
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How her later comments add context
In a separate interview with Interview magazine, covered by Us Weekly on February 5, 2026, Goldberg again discussed her relationship preferences. She said some people are not suited to relationships, that she did not want to live with anyone, and that “Being lonely and being alone are two different things.” Those later remarks echo her comfort with independence, but they were not part of the 2024 conversation with Don Lemon. Us Weekly’s February 5, 2026 coverage also notes her earlier discussion of cohabitation and monogamy in her 2015 book Whoopi’s Big Book of Relationships: If Someone Says ‘You Complete Me,’ RUN!.
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